Simple but impressive things you prepare for your guests

[RussianBlonde]

Coming from a family of Eastern European women who were insanely talented when it came to cooking I have to say I inherited none of these talents. I actually love to cook but, let's be honest, I suck at it because of lack of patience and inability to follow instructions. Hospitality and having guests over is a big thing in my culture so it's never appropriate to order them a pizza.

I am a big fan of charcuterie boards as they can be very versatile and easily modified depending on the number of people you're having over. Polish people love pickles and I have learned from my grandparents how to pickle stuff nicely and my charcuterie boards (or cold dinners which are popular in Poland) include pickled mushrooms, pickled pumpkin, pickled pears and pickled plums. I bet most westerners are familiar with pickled cucumbers of course but if you ever wanted to give pickling a go (it's super easy) Id encourage you to give pickled pears and plums a try, they are particularly tasty.

Plums and pears are pickled with sugar, cinnamon and cloves so they taste different than i.e salty gherkins.

So that's my go to thing when we're having people over, big pimping charcuterie board with lots of cold meats, sausages, cheese and sides of home made pickles. And fresh bread of course.

What do you guys serve when you're hosting people? Or what do you bring to potluck dinners that people seem to love?

 

[Malodorous Merkin]

A big plate of Caprese salad.

They always look so fancy and appetizing with all the colors and the fresh basil, but they're pretty simple to throw together.

 

[𝕺𝖑' 𝕯𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖔]

Shakshuka looks amazing but is as simple as making a basic chunky tomato/pepper/vegetable sauce with chili, cumin, oregano, etc..., cracking some eggs on top and placing the skillet in the oven so that the eggs cook from all sides. Top with chopped parsley and crumbled feta and serve with warm bread.

 

[Jeff Q. Anime]

lack of patience and inability to follow instructions

how about you just get more patient and learn to read, retard

 

[RussianParasite]

Hospitality and having guests over is a big thing in my culture so it's never appropriate to order them a pizza.

Prepare some good, old fashion Салат Оливье and if your guests don’t appreciate it kick their asses out and shake their hand through the doorway as they leave.

 

[Shadfan666xxx000]

Try some lasagna. A good lasagna is easy to make and it just takes time to bake.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

a good fried rice, casserole, or bowl of stew.

 

[Jason Wynn]

Honey lime mesquite chicken. Not too difficult to make, just a bit time consuming but company always loves it.

 

[GoPro]

Savory spiced nuts are surprisingly easy and give you a lot of room for customization. All you need are raw nuts, egg-whites or aquafaba if you don't eat eggs, and whatever spices and herbs you like. You will need to make them few hours ahead so they have time to cool off.

Spiced Nuts Snack – Bruno Albouze

An healthy snacks!To get the full recipe go to https://brunoalbouze.comRecipes / Shop / Gallery / Events / Blog / Food Reviews @ https://brunoalbouze.comInst...

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Bruschetta is easy too. You simply need a decent quality bauette cut into slices, toast them a little, and load them with whatever you you have. Tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, cheeses, cult cuts, or finely chopped salads all work well. They are good for spreads too. Herbs will help with presentation.

Chickpea fritters are easy too but require some time. If you want to get a bit more interesting, you could go for sicilian panelle that's baked and uses chickpea flour. Panelle goes surprisingly well with some lemon juice on top of it and bread.

Skewers are good too due to how easy and customizable they are.

When it comes to sweet stuff, I make panna cotta, crepes, irish potatoes, or cheesecake cupcakes.

A big plate of Caprese salad.

They always look so fancy and appetizing with all the colors and the fresh basil, but they're pretty simple to throw together.

That's one of my go-tos too. High quality ingredients are the key though. It's best to make it in-season when properly ripe tomatoes are easy to come by. Growing your own basil or getting the freshest one you can also makes a difference. If you have good grape or cherry tomatoes and mozarella in balls, you can also make caprese salad skewers.

 

[DankSmoker]

Dehydrate something, it can even be pickled beforehand.

 

[Overwritten Tapes]

East European as well. I always have kobasica/sudžuk and our kind of beef jerky on hand.

Fighting my cats off from getting on the table is another thing.

 

[Aristides]

For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 japanese cucumber (or more)
• A mandolin (preferably), a food processor or a knife
• Some rice vinegar
• Some salt
• Some white sugar
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Slice a japanese cucumber into thin slices, put them in a bowl then sprinkle a generous amount of salt and toss. Wait ten minutes for the salt to draw most of the moisture out of the cucumber slices, then drain and rinse them well as to remove excess salt. Squeeze them hard to remove more moisture, drain that liquid too. Mix sugar and rice vinegar in a bowl until dissolved, add the cucumber slices, and you're done. You can leave it in a refrigerator for a few hours for a richer vinegar flavor or you can serve it immediately. Looks fancy with some sesame seeds added on top. Look up "sunomono" for a full recipe with proper measurements.

I would like to emphasize how easy this is to make, it takes 20 minutes and most of that is waiting around for the salt to leech the moisture out of the cucumber. It tastes great, sweet and acidic depending on the sugar-to-vinegar ratio, and looks nice too.

 

[RussianBlonde]

Shakshuka looks amazing but is as simple as making a basic chunky tomato/pepper/vegetable sauce with chili, cumin, oregano, etc..., cracking some eggs on top and placing the skillet in the oven so that the eggs cook from all sides. Top with chopped parsley and crumbled feta and serve with warm bread.

I love shakshuka. I've had it once when i was in Israel and also started making my own (it's not a known dish in Poland) and its great for breakfast.

When it comes to sweet stuff, I make panna cotta, crepes, irish potatoes, or cheesecake cupcakes.

Panna Cotta does look aesthetically pleasing, I've seen people make it (on tv) and it looks fairly simple. I may have to give that a go.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 japanese cucumber (or more)
• A mandolin (preferably), a food processor or a knife
• Some rice vinegar
• Some salt
• Some white sugar
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Slice a japanese cucumber into thin slices, put them in a bowl then sprinkle a generous amount of salt and toss. Wait ten minutes for the salt to draw most of the moisture out of the cucumber slices, then drain and rinse them well as to remove excess salt. Squeeze them hard to remove more moisture, drain that liquid too. Mix sugar and rice vinegar in a bowl until dissolved, add the cucumber slices, and you're done. You can leave it in a refrigerator for a few hours for a richer vinegar flavor or you can serve it immediately. Looks fancy with some sesame seeds added on top. Look up "sunomono" for a full recipe with proper measurements.

I would like to emphasize how easy this is to make, it takes 20 minutes and most of that is waiting around for the salt to leech the moisture out of the cucumber. It tastes great, sweet and acidic depending on the sugar-to-vinegar ratio, and looks nice too.

Ver archivo adjunto 4893889

Is Japanese cucumber a specific kind of cucumber? I always have cucumbers at home, I will give that a try. We have a cucumber dish too called mizeria, although it's prepared with sour cream, sugar and salt.
Yours is nicer looking though.

 

[rel=alternate]

Pickled food is always a hit, so is charcuterie. In the winter, I don't usually bother too much and go with stuff I don't prepare myself like this.

Something I like to do in the summer is to have some bites of seafood.

I mainly do;

• Various carpaccios (salmon, scallops or tuna)
• Some plancha, grilled or marinated octopus
• Shot glasses with a mixture of crab (cooked and chilled), avocado, grapefruit, cayenne pepper and a few leaves of salad

What I like about these, is that, 1, you can't fuck it up. 2, it's all precooked/marinated and ready, or at most flash cooking. There is barely any cooking involved, and it's delicious.

 

[DankSmoker]

Is Japanese cucumber a specific kind of cucumber? I always have cucumbers at home, I will give that a try.

Hell, I kind of want to bastardize the recipe with zucchini. Probably toast the sesame as well.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

You know how they say that you eat with your eyes? One thing that impresses people in the "oooh, let me have some of that" kind of way is my french apple tart. Well, it's an apple pie in my mind, I just changed the classic recipe. I make a good flavorful crust and cut the apples a certain way and maybe it is latent autism that forces me to arrange them in a way that I find visually pleasing or interesting.

I don't have an actual picture so I googled something that looks like my thing. Like that, but bigger so the rose in the center will be less prominent but still a fun detail. I didn't learn how to do that from anywhere, space just got so tight towards the middle that it seemed like a natural arrangement and it looked nice.

It impresses people and it's not that hard or time consuming to make, I'd say it takes ten minutes longer than making the same pie where all the apples are just dumped into it.

 

[Titty Figurine]

I talked about it a little in the things you've cooked thread but my favorite "Unexpected company" staple is a lazy little shit's spin on focaccia. You can make it as complicated and honest or as quick and dirty as you want. Got time and good flour? Omit the sugar. Got no time to waste? Use high gluten flour for a chew that tastes like time and a fat pinch of sugar for a fast rise. Got some fresh herbs or a hard cheese you need to use up? Throw some in and throw the rest on top ten minutes into the bake. Makes the house smell great too.

I'm the bread person in our social circle and generally if I know someone's coming to watch the kids for a while or work on a garage project with the man I'll put up a nice loaf of something the night before for them to take home. But when you don't know you're having company you can rush this in a little over an hour in the background and it's nearly unfuckupable. If you have time, herbs, and vegetables you can make it gorgeous like the pic for a dinner party, but it's just as delicious sprinkled with salt and a little cheese for a short notice treat. Everyone likes fresh bread.

Spoiler: Recipe

• 1 1/3 cup warm water
• 2 tsp sugar or honey
• 2 tsp or one packet yeast
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4-1/3 cup good olive oil, plus a generous amount for working and drizzling
• Scant 2 tsp salt

If you have an empty Cambro or a huge bowl handy you can make this without dirtying the counter or mixer. You need a rimmed baking sheet to contain the oil (and preferably a silpat or something in the bottom but if you don't have one just spread the oil around with your hand and it'll probably be fine) but you can also make it in cast iron or an oven-safe skillet.

Dump water, sugar, and yeast in your bowl or bin, add 1/4-1/3 oil and swirl it as you start adding the flour, salt, and mix-ins. If you feel like kneading it on a surface, knock yourself out but oil the surface and your hands instead of flouring them. If you have enough space in your container, just smush it down and stretch it over from the bottom while your other hand turns the bowl for about five minutes.

When it's less sticky and smoother (it really doesn't have to be perfect at the end of five minutes, it'll taste fine. Do give it the full five minutes though) pour a little more oil in the bowl, flip the dough ball over so it's coated, and cover it. If you're racing the clock, use a proofing setting on the oven or set it on a heating vent. Let it rise about 30min (20 if it's in a toasty spot) and pour some oil in the bottom of your pan. Stretch it or roll it into a rectangle or circle and cover it with cling wrap.

Heat the oven to 425F and when it gets poofy use your fingertip or the end of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over the surface. Generously drizzle oil all over, and here's the only real point of failure: If you're just sprinkling it with salt, you can do that before it goes in. If you're putting fresh or dry herbs, cheese, or anything else that can burn on top, you need to set a timer for 10-12 minutes in, pull it out, throw those on, and put it back in. Either way, bake it for about 20 minutes total. Make sure to pull it off the pan and set it on a rack so the bottom stays crunchy.

You can adapt this near infinitely with different flavorings. I like it best made with high gluten flour with a little semolina mixed in and parm+asiago on top, my husband likes dry pizza herbs mixed in and fat gooey cloves of caramelized garlic, and if you put it on very late in the bake it even takes zaatar seasoning well. Sharp cheddar and black pepper to go with ham is also a family favorite variation. When backyard grapes are coming out of our ears in fall a sweet version with grapes lightly pressed in and turbinado sugar sprinkled on top is pretty tasty.

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

Baba ganoush is easy to make . Essentially the same as hummus with one main Ingredient swapped, can't really buy it from the shops here like hummus. It's good if your looking to impress insufferable hipster cunts who don't shut up about Hummus.

Coming from a family of Eastern European women

Where are the men? Are you like the asari from mass effect?

 

[Radola Gajda]

It really depends why they came if we are celebrating something or if they just came to sit down drink cup of tea/ coffee and have conversation.
If I dont have much time
I usually get puff pastry from store. And make Strudel.
Grate few apples . Mix them with bit of sugar, Cinnamon and raisins. After that flatten pastry with rolling pin . And put grated apples in middle of pastry, next spread them around pastry and after that seal pastry around apples and bake end product for 20-30 minutes. Once pastry gets that nice light brown colour you are done.
Congratulation you have made your first strudel.

 

[RussianBlonde]

Baba ganoush is easy to make . Essentially the same as hummus with one main Ingredient swapped, can't really buy it from the shops here like hummus. It's good if your looking to impress insufferable hipster cunts who don't shut up about Hummus.


Where are the men? Are you like the asari from mass effect?

Men didn't cook, they were busy drinking vodka and arguing